Trust is Earned not Given
by darkprincevs
Summary: Missing three years fic when Vegeta comes to live with Bulma. The story of she eventually breaks through to him. Following cannon characters and timelines with small twists.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: So this is my first time ever writing and especially publishing anything like. I've read a few stories and wondered how it would be like to be on the other side of the computer. So here I am! Please tell me what you think! I'm open to all constructive criticism. If anything, it'll help me become a better writer.

Just in case if its unclear, I used italics for thoughts and emphasis.

 **Disclamer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or any of the characters.**

* * *

As the sun rose upon a familiar yellow mansion, a certain blue haired beauty roused from her sleep. Yawning, she rubbed her eyes awake. She snapped out of her early morning daze, as she remembered the exchange that had occurred almost three months ago. She still couldn't wrap her mind around it.

 _Could it really be true?_ she thought, recalling the information that the lavender-haired boy from the future had relayed onto Goku. _He had sliced Frieza into smithereens without so much as breaking a sweat_. She walked to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. _How could these androids make him pale in comparison?_ If this was a practical joke, it definitely was an elaborate one. How could this boy know about Dr. Gero's deep hatred for Goku? No, this had to be real. She couldn't understand why, but she trusted the boy. She felt … almost a sense of familiarity. _Maybe because he was so gosh-darned cute._ She shrugged that thought aside. No, she definitely did know him from somewhere. Perhaps he interned somewhere at her company; judging from the Capsule Corp logo on his jacket, he must've had some connection to her family. Too bad, she didn't even know his name, or she would have been able to find out who he was in no time.

Noting the time, she quickly dressed herself in her work attire, a white silk blouse with a navy blue blazer and a black high waisted pencil skirt. She brushed and straightened her blue locks with haste, and headed out the door.

"Hey there beautiful", a voice called out from the couch, as she passed the main living room.

"Well, hiya there Yamcha," she replied. "What are you doing up so early? This is a first."

"I just wanted to get a head start on training today. I'm not gonna let the others get the jump on me." He stood up to face her and planted a soft kiss against her cheek. "And of course, I wanted to see my gorgeous girlfriend before she heads of to work. Sit down and I'll make you some breakfast."

"That sounds great Yamcha, but I'm already running behind as it is. I don't want to be late. It is my first day as Vice-President of Capsule Corp. I'll take some coffee to go, though."

"So that's why you look so … executive". He approached her and ran his hand down her arm, "I like it".

"Shut up you goof-ball!", she exclaimed, giggling and playfully swatting her hands at him.

He came behind her and ran his hands up her sides. He whispered in her ear. "Come on, now. Don't you want to spend time with your amazing boyfriend."

She shivered. "Yamcha! I can't right now. I'm running late." She pulled away from him.

Reluctantly, he let her go and pouted. "Fine. But you better make this up to me."

Taking her coffee, she walked out the door to the car that was waiting to take her to headquarters.

Yamcha looked out the window, watching her leave. What a sight. He sighed. He missed her. He missed the way things used to be. When she used to look at him, his heart would melt. It seemed that now, she barely tolerated him. When he wanted to spend time with her, she was always spending her time with something frivolous. Either she was going to work, tinkering on a project, or spending time with _him._

His eyes shifted to the large spaceship outside the house that was now shaking. No doubt, _Vegeta_ was training in there with the gravity machine Dr. Brief had built him. How could Bulma ever invite a guy like that to her house. What was she thinking? After everything he did. He had declared war on the Earth and practically killed him along with most of the Z gang. If that weren't enough, he was a space pirate who worked closely with the once ruthless tyrant of the universe. His tentative alliance back on Namek was merely self-preservation. In his book, Vegeta was still a merciless, cold-hearted murderer who only thirsted for blood and power. The second that they let their guards down, Vegeta may well strike, and he wasn't going to let that happen. He had to get stronger, if he wanted to stand a chance to protect them. With that thought, he launched into the air to start his training.

* * *

It was 7:30 PM by the time the heiress entered the Capsule Corp compound. She was completely exhausted. As newly appointed VP of the richest corporation in the world, she could no longer flake on her responsibilities. That meant no more space travel, no more hunts for the dragon ball, and no more adventure. The gravity of the situation hit her as she realized, she had to grow up; she could no longer up and leave whenever she so wished. It was somewhat of a rude awakening. Throbbing feet, she decided she deserved a long bubble bath, before fixing herself something to eat. No doubt her mother stored the leftovers in the fridge. She was practically drooling with anticipation. With newfound determination, she stalked off to her room to get herself clean before satiating her hunger.

Just as she reached the handle of her door, a loud noise startled her, nearly knocking her to her feet.

"WOMAN!"

"Oh my God, Vegeta! You scared me half to death. What's so important that you've nearly startled all of West City?". She placed a hand over her heart instinctually. Turning around, there he was, wearing a self satisfied smirk, no doubt amused by her surprise.

"Woman, my gravity chamber is malfunctioning again", he gruffly responded.

"What did you do this time? Forget it, I really don't care. I'll fix it tomorrow." She waved him off.

"No, woman! I demand you fix it at once!" He took a step closer.

Narrowing her eyes, she walked right up to him and poked him in the chest. "Fat chance there, buster. I ran a diagnostic just yesterday and fixed it, when you nearly smashed through the console. THAT TOOK ME ALL NIGHT!"

"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN HOW LONG IT TOOK! YOU WILL DO IT NOW!" He clenched his fists, trying to reign in his anger.

"THE ONLY THING IM GOING TO DO RIGHT NOW, IS TAKE A LONG BATH AND EAT DINNER. I WILL FIX IT TOMORROW. THIS CONVERSATION IS OVER!" She turned and stomped into her room, throwing the door closed behind her, with a loud slam for good measure.

 _That jerk! He's so infuriating. Doesn't he realize that the universe doesn't revolve around him. Prince of all Saiyans, yeah right, more like Prince of all Assholes! Three more years with him and the androids won't have to kill him, I'll beat them to the punch._

Too flustered to enjoy the long bath she was dreaming of, she screamed in frustration and threw a bar of soap across the bathroom.

Vegeta turned around from the slammed door, and began walking to the back yard, grumbling to himself.

 _The nerve of that woman. How dare she deny me the proper training facilities. All I ask is for the maintenance of that goddamn gravity room. Couldn't she build something sturdy enough to actually last more than five minutes? The mouth on her._

Huffing indignantly, he stalked out and began his katas. He would not waste anymore of his time or breath on that loudmouthed banshee. He had to become a Super Saiyan. It was his birth right, and he refused to be second to that low classed clown any longer. If that worm could unlock his potential by training in one hundred times earth's gravity, there was no reason he should not be able to as well. He had already mastered double that amount, but he would continue to push himself until he experienced the legend himself.

 _Kakarot! I will surpass you. You can count on it!_

He blasted off to find some solidarity. He would train for the next few days in harsher conditions. No doubt by the time he would get back, the wench would have fixed his gravity room.


	2. Chapter 2

The heiress fixed the gravity room the following morning as promised, and was slightly shocked that her loud houseguest had seemingly vanished. She had checked his room, only to find that his bed was not slept in. There was no sign of him. The backyard didn't have any new holes or dents from his training. Even the other capsule spaceship was in place, so he didn't venture into space. She wandered into the kitchen. The fully stocked fridge was clear enough indication that he wasn't around.

 _Just like that jerk. I wake up early to fix his stupid gravity room, and he's not even around to use it. What a self-obsessed, arrogant, narcissistic, little …_

"Bulma, dear, why are you still here? Don't you have meeting at 10:00." She jumped spilling hot coffee all over her white blouse.

"DAD! Don't do that!", she screeched, "Why does everyone keep on sneaking up behind me? For God's sake, do you people want me to go into cardiac arrest?"

Dr. Brief just grabbed a muffin from the counter and returned to his seat at the table. "I've been sitting here for a while now dear", he mumbled. "Shouldn't you be heading over to work? It's a big meeting and you don't want to miss it."

"Oh Dad, I have plenty of time." She looked up to clock. "WHAT?! It's 9:30 already! Ah, and I have to change my shirt too. Oh no I'm going to be late. Thanks for scaring me dad now I have to go and …"

He zoned out as she rambled on. He looked back to his newspaper.

"What's an eight letter word for crazy," he mumbled to himself, "Neurotic." Scratch meowed in agreement.

* * *

Bulma raced down the halls. You'd think she'd be running for her life, for how fast she was going. _How the hell did I lose track of time. I could have sworn it was 8:45 just five minutes ago._ She looked at her watch. It was 10:02. _Shit! Great Bulma, way to make a good impression your first days as VP._

By the time she made it to the conference room she was a sweaty, panting mess and the meeting had already began. She walked up to her seat. Her deep breaths not doing much to exude confidence.

"I'm glad that you were finally able to join us, _Miss_ Briefs." A stuffy, older man acknowledged her with a snide tone that let her know he was anything but. He had a few grey hair combed over his slightly balding head in the middle. He sat up stiffly with an upturned nose, scrunched eyebrows, and a chip on his shoulder. His dark purple suit, outdated and dusty. She recognized him right away. He was on the board of directors of Capsule Corp, holding the majority shares next to her father and herself.

 _Gangsely, you prick, shove that pole out of your…_

She tactfully acknowledged the entire board. "Sorry I was late, everyone. I got caught up with something, and I guess I lost track of time. I'm here now though, so someone catch me up.", she said with a firm voice ringing of authority, making up for her less than graceful entrance. She slowly looked over at the people before her and noticed that she didn't recognize one of them, sitting a couple chairs down.

He met her gaze and cleared his throat. "Hello, I don't believe we have met. I was just appointed to the board a week ago. I'm Mark. Mark Menteur." The young man had slight blush on his features. She guessed he was about a year or two older than her, but still significantly younger than anyone else in the room. He was fresh faced with short, neatly cut blonde hair and bright green eyes, covered by rimmed glasses. He wore a suit that didn't fit him quite right, cuffs too long and sagging somewhat on his shoulders. He was cute, in the nerdy, dorky sort of way.

She smiled kindly at him. "It's nice to meet you Mark. I am _Vice President_ Bulma Briefs," she shot Gangsely a glare, "But call me Bulma. Now, let's begin. We are here to discuss the maximization of energy efficiency in microbots, am I correct?". Grumbling in unison, they began to go about their meeting.

* * *

After fifteen days of straight training, Vegeta was starting to tire out. In all the time, he barely stopped for food and water, very occasionally napping for a couple of hours at a time. He had to reach his goal. There was no alternative. He finished his routine and stumbled onto a knee. Pushing himself up, he slowly flew to the nearest river. He splashed his face with water, and dipped his entire head in guzzling down as much as he could manage. When his thirst was finally quenched he got up. Immediately his stomach growled. For days past, he had hunted game or fish and fed himself enough to keep himself going, but not to satiate his saiyan appetite. He realized that he had began to become accustomed to crazy blonde woman's cooking, indulging himself to enjoy the foods rather than throwing it down the hatch barely tasting. _How weak_ ** _,_** he berated himself. _Well its not like I can get any stronger out here with this pathetic gravity._

The trip had been good for him. He was beginning to feel trapped, staying so long in that city. By no means was the compound small. In fact, he had been in awe of it, when he had first been invited to stay there. And though he would never admit it, the accommodations were a lot nicer than he had ever received under Frieza. However, the problem therein lay that he never stuck around anywhere too long, often getting shipped off with his comrades on purging missions. He was not used to being settled and it made him uncomfortable. And while the compound was spacious enough, it was still surrounded by the city. With his developed ability to sense ki signals, being around so many people, even though not in close proximity, put him on edge. His survival instincts assessing potential threats. He realized it was somewhat foolish, knowing that there was only one amongst the planet that could truly harm him. Potentially three if he didn't get his butt in gear soon. It had already been over three months since the warning from the boy from the future, and he didn't feel like he was getting any closer to his goal. His strength had increased significantly in the time, doubling or even tripling in the past months from the gravity room but it wasn't enough. Kakarot's strength had increased exponentially when he turned Super Saiyan. He had to achieve it. There was no other option. Eager to get back to his intensive training, he headed towards the compound.

* * *

To say the past two weeks went by fast for Bulma would be an understatement. With her new position, she worked around the clock, setting up meetings, researching materials, and her favorite, tinkering in her lab. The first week had her completely swamped; she had to introduce and establish herself by way of setting up lunches and dinners with her employees. Additionally, she was buried in paperwork, having to read legal jargon as many of the projects needed her approval. She stayed at headquarters, some days well after midnight. Her brain was running on caffeine alone and she was pretty sure, if this kept up, she was going to have an ulcer. She was truly grateful that her new position came with a large, brand new office. Her private office was the size of a three bedroom apartment. It came with a mini kitchen to the side, attached bathroom and closet filled with work wear and more formal clothes. She also had a mini lab tucked behind her main office, allowing her to tinker, if time ever allowed her to do such a thing. Her true saving grace, however, was the couch that turned into a comfortable bed.

With such amenities, she barely had the need to leave her office. She didn't even have enough time to see Yamcha. The poor guy would come around the office at night just to see if she had a spare moment to hang out. Everyday, she was forced to brush him off. And while his persistence was endearing, it was also starting to grate on her nerves. _Doesn't he understand how swamped I am. I don't have time breathe and he wants to go out._ She would reassure him that he would see her again as soon as she could manage, and he would pout and stomp out of her office like an errant child. Pretty soon he stopped bothering to show up at all.

By the time the second week had rolled around, things were starting to slow down. She had less paperwork to fill out and started properly delegating work. Bulma finally had time to enter her lab. As she was researching, she came across an idea. _What about Ki reflecting bots. Vegeta kept on destroying them because they were too slow to dodge him and too weak to actually match his Ki. This way he'll practically be facing himself._ A soft smirk crept up onto her face. _Bulma, you are one hell of a genius. I'll have to reinforce the gravity room so that its more shock absorbent but that shouldn't be too difficult. While I'm at it might as well add an emergency override panel on the outside, just in case he gets hurt. What am I thinking, he'd die before letting anyone know he's hurt._ She sat down and began to draw blueprints for the new bots and researching more shock absorbent materials.

Finishing work surprisingly early, she hopped out of her hover car and made a beeline for the kitchen. She almost tripped over her own feet when she saw Vegeta sitting at the dinner table, with a rather large spread of food in his midst. He met her eyes for a second before returning to his feast. She sat down across from him after warming herself a plate. She ate slowly in awe of his ability to eat so much. She noticed, however, rather than inhaling food like Goku did, he had rather good table manners. He focussed on his food, while eating and cleared his plates quickly and meticulously, but never stuffed his face completely or chewed with his mouth open. He didn't even have a single piece of food on face or clothes. _He eats like a prince,_ she thought. Thats when she realized he really was one. It was evident in most aspects of his mannerisms.

"Hey Vegeta, how are you? Where have you been these couple of weeks?" Bulma decided this was as good of a time as any to strike up a conversation.

He swallowed his food before grunting, "Training".

"Well I haven't seen you around the complex, that's all. Where did you go?"

He shrugged, "That's really none of your concern woman. Now tell me, did you fix the gravity room?"

Her eyebrows knit together in annoyance. "Fine, jerk. Forget I asked. You try to be nice and this is what you get."

"Woman, the gravity room?"

"It's done, _Your Highness_. It was done the day you left. And for the record, my name is Bulma. Five letters. I'm sure even _your_ brain could remember that."

He smirked at his ability to get under her skin. He enjoyed seeing the fire in her eyes and the flush on her face when she got worked up, so he decided to push her a bit more. "I do not store useless information in my head, unlike you weaklings. I use my head when it counts."

"Whatever," she huffed indignantly. She pushed her half eaten plate to the side, no longer hungry.

He crinkled his nose in disgust. "Woman finish eating the food. It's not good etiquette to waste."

"Shut up! You wouldn't know good etiquette if it bit you in the ass." She stuck her tongue out at him. She unconsciously gripped her chopsticks so hard they snapped, a small piece shooting up, a projectile to her head. "Ouch".

A small chuckle escaped as he tried to force himself into his normally stoic mask. This woman was really something. One minute she glaring at him with all the anger her small person could muster and next she was rubbing her head from absently causing herself pain.

Her eyes darted to him, and her expression immediately softened. Despite him trying to contain himself, she heard him. While it was at her expense, it was the first non-threatening laugh she had ever heard escape him. So far, they had barely socialized outside of his demands for food or training equipment. It was nice to see a very small part of this side of him; the side she knew he kept sheltered from everyone; the side that made him a mystery to her. _Its good to know he's got at least somewhat of a sense of humor hidden in all of that stuffiness._

"Hey Vegeta", she smiled at him, "If you're done, I have something to show you."

"Woman, I do not have time to waste on your useless things." He got up from his seat and began to move in the gravity room. "I have training to do."

She came to stand in front of him. " Cmon Vegeta. It won't take too long. I promise, I'll make it worth your while." She winked at him and turned to walk away.

"Fine," he grumbled, following her. He cocked an eyebrow in intrigue. _This better be good._

* * *

 _Author's Note: If you can catch it, there's a bit of foreshadowing. I don't want to spoil the surprise. The only clue is that I'm a bit of a language buff._


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclamer** : I don't own DBZ and probably never will, only my interpretation of the gaps.

* * *

As they entered her lab, she asked him, "Vegeta, do you think you would progress faster if you had someone else to spar with? Someone who could help sharpen your reflexes and ki techniques?"

He raised an eyebrow at that. "Perhaps woman, but aside from Kakarot, everyone else on this pathetic planet is pitifully weak. And I would rather die by hands of the androids than spar with him, if thats what you are implying."

She rolled her eyes, and picked up a remote. A spherical object levitated from its rest position. "I wasn't, but what if that someone could be a training bot?"

He barked a laugh, "Do you think that hunk of junk could really stand up to me? You must have less of an idea of who I am than I thought. That piece of scrap metal could not begin to test the Prince of all …".

"Listen here Prince of all _Jerks._ I put in a lot of work into this thing and you will at least try it out. Now follow me." She led him into a small test site in her lab that was isolated from the rest of the lab, and guided the bot in as well. Grumbling under his breath he complied. At least it gave him an excuse to break something. "Now go inside and follow my instructions."

"I take orders from no one." He retorted, huffing.

"For God's sake, will you just do it Vegeta," she screeched and he clamped his hands over his ears. Cursing in alien languages under his breath he entered the seemingly glass room with the robot. Bulma shut the door and it locked with a hiss.

"Now Vegeta, I want you to send a small ki blast towards the bot." she spoke over the intercom.

As he sent a decent sized purple ball the bot's way, expecting the both to dodge it, he was shocked when it floated stationary and absorbed the energy. It beeped and a few more lights on the bot emerged. He realized his ki blast charged it up.

"Ok good. Now I want you to hit it with a slightly larger blast."

Intrigued, he complied. He was almost caught off guard when instead of absorbing the energy as he had seen prior, the blast reflected off the surface of the bot and came back towards him. He blocked it with his hands and was surprised by the stinging sensation left. The blast was as strong as the one he had let out. He turned back to Bulma and stared at her in disbelief. She smirked at him.

"Just one more test. I want you start dodging it. When you want to stop, hit the button on its back. Well if you can." With that, she activated the bot and it came barreling towards Vegeta.

 _It's fast_ , Vegeta thought as he phased out of the bot's way for the tenth time in the minute. He was almost having some difficulty, especially in the constricted space. If his reflexes weren't as developed he would have been a goner. This was great agility training and the space constraint made it even better. The bot let out small ki blasts towards him and he fired back, recharging the bot and making it even faster than before. It took him a minute to adjust and he rebounded off the wall and clicked the button on the back. It immediately stopped moving, floating stationary in the middle of the room. There was another hiss as the door opened and Bulma walked through.

"What'd you think? Not so bad for a piece of scrap metal huh?" she smirked at him.

He moved towards her, crossing his arms over his chest and smirked as well. "It was satisfactory." She huffed at that. He glanced back over to the bot that was still in the middle of the room. "Build more. They will be beneficial to my training. They can perform in the Gravity Chamber?" he asked.

She smiled, taking that as his way of a compliment. "Oh I'm way ahead of you. I already have 3 more in the works. I just have to update the safety on them and you should be good to go. To answer your question, they can work as well as they did up until 300G. After that, they get slower and the don't conserve as much energy. They'll also wear out a lot faster. I need to look for a sturdier material before you can use them in higher conditions than that. It'll take a while, but I think it will be worth it. There are a few warnings I need to relay. First, when using ki against them, don't go all out. They're strong but they can still short circuit causing them to explode. Second, don't hit them. They can defend against ki, but not against physical assaults. I didn't program them like that. The material is sturdy but the damage can cause problems to the circuitry. Last, I have implemented a pretty nice AI in them, so the more you spend working with them, the better they'll pickup on your techniques. Other than that, this one is all yours and you can work with it whenever. I should have the rest done by next week."

He looked at her with genuine disbelief. This woman really was a genius, not that he'd ever admit it to her. With the bots, he'd be able to sharpen up the accuracy in his attacks, as well as getting stronger overall. That one bot had almost given him a work out in the twenty minutes he had been with it. No doubt, would he progress faster than he had ever before. With four of these bots at his disposal and the Gravity chamber. He would claim his destiny. It was just a matter of time.

* * *

With the bots, Vegeta could feel an immense change in his power. Now he had better opportunity to perfect his fighting techniques. Katas were good and all, but without actual targets that could fight back, it was hard to accurately make calls. The bots had taken his training to another level. For this reason, he had spent the better part of the past three weeks in the Gravity Chambers. He practically lived in their and had barely seen the woman since her gifting him the bots. For this reason, she was not prepared for what she saw.

Vegeta entered the kitchen, his armor was practically shredded from above his waist and below his knees.

"Vegeta, what happened to you?! You look like a mess."

"Calm down, woman, its just armor. It's what I wear to train. It just got a little worn down with my intensive exercise."

"I'll say. It's more scraps than clothing now. Gosh, Vegeta take a little bit more pride in your appearance. You're supposed to be a prince."

He angrily grit his teeth and yelled. "Well, I doubt _your_ people carry Saiyan armor, so what do you suggest I do!"

"Hmm, I don't know, maybe you wear Earth clothes, for a change. Jerk!"

"Oh no! I refuse to wear that pansy costume you picked out for me earlier. I am a warrior, not a variety of flower!"

"OK, I'll admit, kind of a dick move on my part. But you were wound so tight, I was sure a diamond was gonna pop out of that cute butt of yours." She winked. "I wanted to lighten the mood".

His face flushed crimson and he inadvertently took a step back. "I..I… Must you be so vulgar, woman."

Sensing his embarrassment, she capitalized. "Listen, just hear me out. I can take a look at your armor and see if I can synthesize something similar to it. In the meanwhile, we can get you fitted into some training clothes. No pink, scouts honor."

He huffed in annoyance and turned away from her indignantly.

She retorted. "Well you could walk around naked for the time being. I won't complain." She gave him a sly smile.

His face flushed again and she knew she had him. "Tch. Fine, get me the stupid earth garments."

"Perfect" she purred. "We'll leave for the mall tomorrow at noon."

"What! I didn't agree to that!"

"Vegeta, you really don't make anything easy, do you" She started getting frustrated. "Look we'll just pop in. You can see what you like and we can be on our way."

He growled in agitation.

"You know noon is lunch time, and I know of this awesome restaurant near there. What do you say? It's all you can eat."

"Grrr, fine."

"Great, I'll meet you by the door at noon. Leave you armor in your room and wear what fits the best." Chalk it up to an all you can eat buffet to change the mind of the destroyer of countless planets. Go figure.

* * *

Later that night, Yamcha was hanging out with his baseball team at a sports bar, celebrating their latest victory. He was four drinks in when his phone started ringing. To his surprise it was his girlfriend.

"What do you want", he slurred.

"Hey, Yamcha. I'm sorry I've been so preoccupied lately that we haven't spent much time together. I miss you."

"Well maybe, you wouldn't be soo busy if you didn't sspend all your time with himmm."

"Yamcha, are you drunk?"

"No, Bulma, I'm not drunk. I'm just out having fun. You know fun, the thing we used to have when we hung out together. Before you started living with another man."

"What the hell is wrong with you! I called so we could hang out. So I could ask you out for dinner, but all your doing is acting like a grade A asshole."

"Dinner?" He asked.

"Yes dinner. The thing you eat after lunch. You heard of it?"

"What, your soulmate's too busy with his training to take you out. Oh yeah that's right. He'd never take you out because you don't mean jack shit to him. He just takes and takes. He'll never treat you right."

"He's not my boyfriend, jerk. You are. And right now, you're treating me worse than he ever has." Her breathing started getting heavy. "Call me when you have your shit together." She cut off the call.

He slammed his hands down on the bar hard. _That bitch. I'm the one that's a grade A asshole! She's been ignoring me for weeks now and the second I refuse to beg for scraps, she shuts down on me. She probably asked him first and when he refused she came to me. Well I'm not going to be her second choice anymore. I'll show her._

He downed his drink and ordered two more. Drinks in hand he approached a blonde woman that had been eyeing him down all night.

"Hey there, I'm sure you know who I am. It's unfair I don't know you." He offered her the drink.

She accepted. "My name's Trixie, but you can call me whatever you want." She placed her hand on his leg.

He cleared his throat and ordered the check for his tab.

* * *

To say that Bulma was furious about her boyfriend's treatment of her would be like calling hurricane Katrina a bit of wind.

"THAT NO GOOD, PIECE OF SHIT!" She raged throwing everything that came in her grasp. "To think, I felt guilty about not seeing him lately. I put myself out there and this is how he treats me."

She slammed the door of her bedroom and proceeding to take her clothes off. Ripping them in her anger.

"How dare he! That BASTARD!"

She could not believe how rude Yamcha had acted towards her. And what was that about calling Vegeta her soulmate. She knew he was jealous, but it never set in until this point of how jealous he really was. How could he think that she was into Vegeta. He was a rude, egocentric maniac who was only obsessed with outdoing Goku. Sure she made suggestive comments about him, but that was all in good fun. It's not like he'd ever respond to them. And even if he did, it's not like she would push it past flirting.

 _I wouldn't betray Yamcha like that. He should know that by now. We've been together over a decade. Even though, he constantly gets on my nerves, I wouldn't throw away everything just like that. But we have been drifting apart lately. It's like he doesn't get me anymore. We used to be so happy, but now … He doesn't want to listen anymore. He doesn't understand my goals and that I can't just stay at home all day with him._

She started to feel a pit forming in her stomach. Was she being too hard on him? Surely she was reading into this too much. Perhaps her emotions were getting the better of her. Maybe she _was_ neglecting him and that was causing his jealousy to get out of control. For one reason or the other they hadn't been together since he had come back to life. Maybe that's why she was feeling emotionally isolated from him. A night together would surely fix all their problems, right? They had been together too long for her not to try. What better than a new sexy set of lingerie, to get her in the mood. Luckily, she had called off work to go to the mall.

* * *

 _Author's note: Next up, Bulma takes Vegeta to the mall. A difficult task lay ahead for the heiress. Can she do it without causing mass destruction? Find out next time on DBZ._

 _Sorry had to do that, been wanting to for a while. (-_-)_

What do you think of the Bulma/Yamcha dynamic here? Who do you think is more at fault? Let me know.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I don't own DBZ. It's not mine

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone for reading! Special thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate it! It's been a bit since I've updated, but this one's almost twice as long so hopefully that makes up for it. With classes, I am planning on updating hopefully every two weeks at the least. We'll see how it goes as it starts getting crazy. Let me know what you guys think!

* * *

The next day, when Bulma walked up to the gravity chamber, she was surprised to see that it was vacant. She had assumed despite her deal with the Saiyan, she would have to drag him out of the room kicking and screaming, so to speak. Getting him to do anything was like pulling teeth. It was almost noon. She went inside to grab her purse, when she almost bumped into said Saiyan.

"Woah will you watch …"

She looked up at him and her breath hitched. He was fresh out of the shower, wearing low hanging grey sweatpants and a capsule corp black t-shirt that was almost too tight on him, accentuating his rippling physique. His arms were bulging out of short sleeves. The sweatpants did not hang loose at all on his powerful thighs. She licked her lips despite herself.

 _Woah and I want to get him better fitting clothes because…? He really has changed in his time here, well, at least physically._

The ogling did not go unnoticed by Vegeta, but he could only deal with so much at once. Ready to get over with the unpleasant experience, he interrupted Bulma's thoughts.

"Well? Are you ready to leave. The sooner we leave, the sooner I can forget the experience all together."

Displeased with the abrupt halt to her train of thoughts, she grabbed her purse off the side table and led Vegeta to the door. Popping open her capsule, a beautifully crafted sports car emerged. She turned to the drivers seat and noticed Vegeta had yet to move.

"Well? You know you actually have to move to get in, right. You won't magically appear in it."

He audibly growled. _Why couldn't we just fly to the place._ And then it occurred to him that she couldn't. He knew that her ki was pitifully weak, but even then. _The bald one could, so why couldn't she._ He approached the car and opened the door as he had seen her do. Reluctantly, he got himself situated. She pulled out of the compound and started on the way when he spoke.

"Your pitiful race is not educated in the art of flight? How backwards is this planet?" Part of him was genuinely curious. Another part wanted to rile her up a bit too.

Irritated, she retorted, "So backwards that we have a set of orbs that grant almost any wish."

"The dragon balls were made by a Namekian, were they not? How can a planet such as this sustain themselves for so long without even the proper tools for survival?" He arrogantly smirked.

The glint of amusement in his eyes pissed her off even more. "Well at least my people aren't so barbaric as to sustain themselves by slaughtering billions of innocents. Look what good it did _them._ "

He noticeably tensed at her words and looked away. All traces of amusement nonexistent.

She felt immediate remorse for her words. _Shit…Too far, Bulma, too far. I just had to open my big mouth, didn't I. Best case he leaves, worst case he blasts me._

"Hey, I'm really sorry, Vegeta. I really didn't mean what I said." She reached out to him with one of her hands and he rounded on her, grabbing her by the wrist. His glare turned her blood to ice.

"Listen woman, and listen good. I have taken your shit for a while now, but not on this. I refuse to let you disgrace my race with such insolence. You know nothing of my race and nothing of me! Next time you utter such disrespect, it will be your last words. Am I clear?" He squeezed her wrist for emphasis and retracted his hand as if he had been burned.

She winced at both the pain and his words. He had been trying to scare her more than hurt her, but damn it hurt. She could feel the beginnings of bruises forming. She wouldn't complain though. She deserved worse. What she said was really messed up. She had felt immediate regret after the words came out and it continued to plague her. She stared straight ahead at the road.

A few minutes later she spoke,"I really am sorry Vegeta. I shouldn't have said that. It was horrible of me. And you're right, I really don't know anything about you, so I have no right to judge. It's part of the reason I wanted you to come. I just want to get to know you a bit better."

He didn't acknowledge her apology, but he didn't leave either.

* * *

The rest of the trip was fairly quiet. Neither initiated and the silence was starting to wear on Bulma. As soon as they parked, she jumped right out. She didn't even bother encapsulating the car. She just needed some space from the moody Saiyan, and at least ten feet worth of it. Not talking was never her strong suit, but she didn't want to chance it with Vegeta. Him sticking around had shocked her, and she didn't want to push her luck. She knew one more word out of place and he'd really snap. She looked back over to him and relaxed a bit when she saw the awestruck look on his face. It was the same look she had seen him wear when she brought him to Capsule Corp for the first time.

Vegeta wasn't sure what he expected of the mall, but he definitely did not expect this. This shopping center was a small city, packed with as many people as one. As he followed Bulma to the indoor center, he expected there to be less people. He could not have been more wrong. The facility was an assault on his senses. The bright lights, smells, and noises got him disoriented and he stopped in his tracks. It didn't help that he stopped in the entrance and people were pushing to get around him. Just then, Bulma looked back and realized he wasn't following her anymore. She walked back over to him.

"Hey Vegeta, are you all right?"

"I refuse to go inside.", he gritted out. "It's … full."

She wanted to smack herself. She had known that Saiyans had more keen senses than humans, and she had taken him to the busiest mall in the area. Even with her skills as a regular shopper, she would get overwhelmed; she couldn't imagine how much worse it would be for him.

Bulma grabbed his hand and pulled forward. She may as well have been trying to pull a mountain. "Cmon Vegeta. Let's get out of this rush. This is the main entrance so its the most dense with people. The rest of the mall is nothing like this. We do have a deal after all."

The commotion was almost painful to him. He was close to dropping out of the deal, but his pride wouldn't let him. There was no way he would appear weak to this slip of a woman. He grunted and allowed her to pull him through the crowd.

They finally arrived to the part of the mall that housed the more exclusive stores. There was a significant change in atmosphere. There were substantially less people. The lighting was more muted, and the smells and sounds were less overwhelming.

"We're here." Bulma initiated. "So let's start with casual wear and then work ourselves up to training. Sound good?"

She didn't wait for a response, as she started leading him to the shirts. He looked over them with disdain. "These aren't practical, woman. They offer no protection whatsoever."

"Vegeta, these are just casual wear. Stuff to wear when you're at home and relaxing."

"I have no use for such items."

"Remember after this, I'm remaking your armor. But you'll need stuff to wear around the compound aside from training clothes, because those will wear out really easily, the more you wear them. That's why we're keeping two different set of clothing."

They passed through many dress shirts, long sleeves, collared shirts, in all colors and patterns but Vegeta was not having any of them. It didn't take long for Bulma to figure out that he detested anything that had too intricate of a pattern. She led him to the solid colored shirts. Vegeta reached out to the neatly folded shirts and picked one up. He examined it closely, running his fingers over the material. It was soft and not as rigid or flimsy as the other shirts.

"This one is adequate if it does not restrict my movements."

Bulma took the shirt from him, and picked up the shirt in multiple sizes.

"Alright. Sounds good. We just have to figure what size fits you best and if you're comfortable in them. And before you try it, there are designated rooms for that, so don't try to change in the middle of the store."

He seemed appalled at the suggestion. "Woman, what do you take me for, an imbecile. Of course, I'm aware!"

Bulma's cheeks pinked up. "Oh sorry, Vegeta. It's just that, one of the first times I took Goku to the mall he stripped down bare, like he didn't have a care in the world. It was so embarrassing! I really didn't want to have rerun of that incident, so I was trying to be thorough."

"I still fail to see your point. Of course he would. But I will not be insulted by having my intelligence compared his lack thereof."

"You're right, Vegeta. Goku isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to social cues. It wasn't fair of me to expect something of you, that he would do."

He grunted his acceptance and they continued looking for pants, shoes, and his elusive "training clothes". By their round of the store he had piled up some dark blue and black jeans and many sweatpants. He also picked up a few pairs of sturdy shoes. They weren't as protective as his boots, but they were comfortable and easy to love around in. In his quest for training clothes, he was disappointed. Nothing provided support and protection as his armor, but he reminded himself that the woman would be replacing the armor, and this was just temporary. He settled on some shirts and shorts from the fitness section and called it a day.

By the time they had come full circle of the large boutique, they had gotten somewhat of a following. Bulma could have sworn she saw the same group of women pass them there, four times already. And if that wasn't obvious enough, the drool dripping out of their mouths should have been. They eyed the Saiyan up and down, but he didn't seem to notice. She couldn't understand why, but it was really pissing her off. _What the hell do they think they're doing? How pathetic._ She rolled her eyes and puffed her chest in annoyance.

"Let's move it, Vegeta. I want to leave this year, you know."

Vegeta shot her an annoyed look. "Woman, you were the one who suggested coming here. Now you want to leave, after you've made me suffer through this. No, we will not leave until I am satisfied."

She steamed on the inside, but kept her mouth shut. He was right, after all.

A younger woman approached them. She was slim brunette, with long legs, whose skirt was too short and her top too low cut, according to Bulma. She was elegantly dressed and wore a sly smile on her face. She directed all of her attention towards Vegeta, and Bulma realized that she did not like the brunette one bit.

"Can I help you, with anything?" she asked, taking a step closer to him.

Bulma replied. "No, I think we're good, thank you." She on plastered the fakest smile she could manage and moved closer to Vegeta. _Yeah that's right. Move along. We don't need or want your help._

The brunette still ignored Bulma, speaking directly to Vegeta. "Are you absolutely sure." She twirled her hair. "I want to make sure you're absolutely satisfied with your visit here." She licked her lips.

 _Are you kidding me! Can't she take the hint._ "Wow, are you always so attentive with all your customers." Bulma was mad now. This was it. She looked over to Vegeta, who was examining the brunette. _How could he be so blind. Doesn't he realize what's going on?_

The brunette irritatingly looked at Bulma. "It is called customer satisfaction, honey." She looked Bulma up and down, and scoffed. This took Bulma over the edge. She would not be looked down upon. _Who the hell did this chick think she was?_

"Look here, you. Do you know who I am? My name is Bulma Briefs and I could end you. Now go away and mind your own business. We do not need …"

Vegeta interrupted Bulma's tirade. Of course he realized what the brown haired woman was propositioning him. He wasn't stupid. And while her presence annoyed him, he found that it irritated the woman a whole lot more. He would go along with the brunette's game. Anything to piss off the woman. After all, she did deserve pay back for the car comment. He looked at the brunette and her name tag and smirked. "Actually, _Emily_ , I could use you." He husked. To add insult to injury, he had intentionally used the brunette's name.

The look on Bulma's face made the whole thing worthwhile. Her mouth dropped and coloring tinged from pale to purple to red. "Wha…whaat?" she sputtered.

The brunette turned to face Vegeta once more and smirked. "How can I be of service?"

"You see, I have all these clothes, and I must try them on."

"I'll get a room. Please, follow me."

Vegeta looked to Bulma who was struggling to get her temper under control. Her blue eyes glared at him, with murderous intent. The flush on her face complemented the fire in her eyes, and contrasted against the turquoise of her hair. Vegeta blinked and followed Emily. Bulma crossed her arms and stomped after him, cursing under her breath.

Emily led Vegeta into the dressing room and brought the clothes in for him. "Let me know if you need _anything_ else. I'll be right outside." She whispered to him as he walked past him. He grunted. There was no point being nice to her anymore. The woman couldn't see them in the dressing room. He systematically tried all of the sizes first so he would only have to chose the ones that were his size.

Bulma was still more than a little miffed. _How could he do that? That jerk._ She marched into the dressing rooms and banged on the door.

"When you think you have the right size. Come out so I can check. I'm not buying you stuff if it doesn't fit right."

Emily reentered. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave the dressing room. This is a men's room."

Bulma glared at the offending woman. "You're here, aren't you? Besides I'm the one who is buying him clothes, so its me who you should be trying to …"

"Can there be no silence!" Vegeta emerged from the dressing room.

The women's eyes popped. He was wearing a perfectly fitted black t-shirt and dark navy jeans.

Bulma forcefully snapped her jaw shut. _Vegeta in jeans should be illegal. You can almost see his abs through the shirt. He looks too good to be human. Well, I guess he isn't._

"Wow, you look amazing in that. I mean, you would amazing in anything, or nothing." Emily took him in and smiled seductively at him.

While the statement irritated her to no end, Bulma couldn't help but silently agree.

"It fits fine. Why don't you change out of those clothes and we can get out of here." He went back inside. Finally, now, he wouldn't have to deal with the brown haired woman for much longer. Her shrill voice was grating on his nerves.

Outside, Emily was a little disappointed that he didn't respond to her. It had to be because of that blue haired lady. Why else wouldn't he go for her. She was hot! She had to get rid of her, at least for a little while. "Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. It's store policy."

"That's fine, but I will be waiting right outside, understand."

The brunette rolled her eyes. She went to the door to the Saiyan, and opened it. He was in his naked, save his boxers.

"It seems that I was right. You do look fantastic in nothing."

"What are you doing in here woman?" He continued to dress, barely acknowledging her presence.

"Well, she's outside. I'm in here with you and you're half naked. Sounds like a fun recipe, don't you think? Plus, I saw the way you were looking at me. I know you like it." She stroked her hand over his bare shoulders.

Vegeta immediately tensed. In less than a second, he had her pinned to the wall and was glaring down at her.

"Oh, you like it rough, don't you? That's fine. I can do rough." She raised her head to bite his ear, but he moved from reach and gripped her harder.

"Let me make this very clear for you, woman. I do not like you. I was just acting as such to piss off the woman. Your very presence irritates me. But because you have served your use to me, I will let you live." He roughly let her go, put on his shirt, and walked out with his stuff as she crumpled to the floor, leaving her to think _why are the hot ones always crazy?_

As he walked out of the dressing area, he noticed that Bulma was still upset. That made him feel better. The brunette's high pitched was quite irritating. She turned away from him and huffed. As they walked towards the cashier, Bulma couldn't take it anymore. She had to know.

"Why did you indulge her?" She was still flushed, anger in her voice.

He pretended not to notice. He nonchalantly shrugged. "Woman. You are a plethora of contradictions. You wanted to 'leave this year', did you not? And I've had my fill of this outing. I was moving things along."

"So…you didn't… you didn't like her then?" She looked up at him with wide blue eyes. Her expression had changed from anger to something he couldn't place.

He looked back at her. The sapphires were mesmerizing. They took him off guard for a brief second and he had to take a breath to compose his thoughts. _Why is she looking at me like that?_ He tore his eyes away from hers, puffed out his chest and deflected. "I find your weak, pathetic species to be quite annoying!"

"Oh…ok". He noticed a hint of disappointment in her words. He watched her from the corner of his eye as her posture seemed to droop slightly. The cashier checked them out. There were a lot of bags. Bulma couldn't have carried all of them if she had used the multiform technique, and there were more on backorder. Needless to say, Vegeta refused to carry them. She encapsulated the bags and put them safely in her purse.

Vegeta was satisfied to see that the excursion was almost over. He had held up his end of the bargain in the earthling infested building and was ready for the reward. He was starving. He had not been expecting the shopping to take so long and now he was over two hours late for his lunch.

Bulma stopped in front of another store. She glanced up at him warily. _Maybe this isn't such a good idea with him here. Maybe I should come back later on my own._ She looked at the time. It was already 2:15. No doubt he would be getting hungry. She fidgeted with her purse, trying to use her brain to think her way out of a potentially awkward situation.

Vegeta looked at the outside of the store and shivered internally a bit. The color was pink, the same color as the shirt she had made him wear. Her visible discomfort was making him suspicious.

"Well, woman? What are we doing here? You promised me food!"

She looked up at him and blushed. "We will get you food, Vegeta. I just have to make a very quick pit stop. It won't take very long, I promise. Everything is ordered and I just have to pay and pick it up." She glanced nervously at the store and the back at him. "The thing is, though, it is pretty crowded in there and smells like all types of perfumes. I know you're err… more sensitive to these things than us humans so why don't you wait outside. 10-15 minutes tops, I swear." Before he could answer, she scurried inside, hoping to get it done with ASAP.

Vegeta lasted all of about five minutes before he got impatient. He looked back at the store. The woman was definitely hiding something. There was a reason she didn't want him to go inside, and it wasn't because of people and smells. She was acting too shifty for it to be simply that. His eyes shifted back to the accursed color and it hit him. _She's going back to get another one of those pink shirts! The treachery!_ She had promised him no more pink! _She's trying to pull one over on me. The prince of Saiyans will not be made a fool of!_

He stormed inside the store, and was greeted with sights of mannequins covered with flimsy lace and in all designs and colors on display. He was glued to the spot, shocked. This was nothing like the previous store. There were images of women half naked all over the walls. The television displayed them moving sensually. His groin slightly stirred. He was about to turn around and walk out when he saw a crown of blue hair. _Shit too late._

Bulma screeched at him. "Vegeta, what the hell are you doing in here! You pervert!" She quickly hid her items away from his eyes and encapsulated them.

He was taken aback. Vegeta had caught a glimpse of her black, studded items, and his cheeks tinged with embarrassment. He attempted to defend himself "Me? I didn't know what this type of place this was! I came here to make sure you weren't getting me more items like that accursed shirt!" It was a weak argument. It even sounded lame to his ears, but it was the truth.

She studied him intently and decided to let it go. His usually stoic mask had shown her a peek into his mortification at the situation. If he was a pervert, he wouldn't have been embarrassed, now would he? Plus, the blush on his face was cute!

"Alright, I believe you. Let's get outta here and eat, shall we?"

She didn't have to say that again. The Saiyan prince followed her out of the store to the promised of a well deserved meal.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of the Dragon balls.

Author's notes: Thanks to everyone following, reading, reviewing the story. It means a lot! This is another long chapter. Love it, hate it? Let me know why. There's always room for improvement.

* * *

Vegeta was on a mission. And his prize was in nearly in sight. He had gone above and beyond his end of the deal, and now it was his turn to collect. He didn't even mind as Bulma led him through the busy entrance of the mall, which had somehow gotten more crowded. They passed the sports car on the way to the restaurant which was only a block away.

The restaurant was elegant in design. One of the most decadent in the area. Beautiful chandeliers hung in the main entrance. The doors looked like they had been carved out of gold. It was modern with traditional touches, a large fountain graced the entrance. Of course, Vegeta cared for little other than the mouthwatering aroma wafting from the inside. The smell almost put him into a frenzy but he held on. Well, kind of.

"Woman! How much longer will it take. I refuse to wait for all these pests first."

Bulma rolled her eyes. The restaurant was pretty exclusive. Often people needed reservations weeks ahead. Even then, the line was almost out of the door. Fortunately being the heir to the largest corporation in the world had its perks. They walked to the front of the line. A young man was at the reservation stand. Upon seeing Bulma, he blushed.

"Hello, ma'am. I'm sorry, but you can't cut the line." He flushed red and couldn't believe what he was telling this gorgeous woman.

Bulma had rode this rodeo before. She looked at his tag and gave him her brightest smile. "Well you see, Chris, my friend and I are kind of in a hurry, you see. I would soo appreciate it if you could make an exception." She winked. "My name is Bulma Briefs."

He nearly jumped out of his skin. The Bulma Briefs was talking to him. To _him._ And he had just told her to go to the back of the line. He turned pale. "Of course, miss Briefs. I'm sorry I didn't recognize you right away. Please, right this way." He picked up two menus and turned tail, leading them to best table in the house.

Bulma looked slyly at Vegeta. Flipping her hair at him as they followed the waiter.

"Here you go Miss Briefs! Please let me know if you need anything else!" He scurried away to get someone to the their orders ASAP.

They both sat down across from each other. Vegeta's stomach grumbled as he impatiently waited. Bulma had picked this restaurant for reason, aside from being one of the most expensive, the restaurant allowed them their own space. She knew Vegeta got antsy when there were too many people around for an extended period of time. Honestly, she was the same way. This was he would be less likely to blow up, well, as long as food came out soon enough. Additionally, the restaurant had a very wide selection, cuisine from all over the world. She, however, did not mention that this was also one of the most romantic restaurants, figuring Vegeta would not notice, probably for the best.

"Hey Vegeta, what do you think of this restaurant?"

He shrugged noncommittally. He gruffed out, "I wouldn't know, would I? I haven't eaten anything, so how could I?"

She rolled her eyes. _Figures._ "You know there is more a place than the food. There's the ambiance, the grandeur."

He looked away. "Food is all I require from this place."

In the meanwhile, a waiter came by. "Hello, I'll be your waiter for this evening. Can I get you something to drink or some starters."

Bulma looked over at Vegeta and realized he hadn't even looked at the menu. He probably didn't even know what most of the stuff was. She turned her attention at the waiter. "We'll both just have water for drinks. And we're ready to order as well."

"Absolutely. What can I get you?"

"We will take two of everything on the menu. Please bring out the food as it get ready, so we can eat it while it comes out. Thank you!"

The waiter dropped his pen and pad. "Whaat? Miss that's a lot of food. It's very expensive as well. Are you sure?"

Bulma smiled at him. "Trust me, the price is not a problem. And I'm sure we'll need more food. This will just be a sampler for my friend over here, so he can decide what he likes the best. And please bring out the food as fast as possible. We're famished."

The waiter silently nodded, picked up his pad and paper and rushed to the kitchen. He really hoped they would leave him with a good tip.

Bulma looked at him. She had so many questions; the man was a complete mystery. She couldn't believe that this man was the same one that had landed on Earth. The same man who had stolen their Dragon Ball on Namek. He had always seemed so lethal. The great Saiyan threat. And here, she had just paraded all around the mall, and now was sitting across from her in one of the fanciest restaurants. The thought made her feel powerful. She wanted to know everything about him. She had heard things about him on Namek from Gohan and Krillin. The things she had heard, only added to his mystery. The genius in her wanted to solve the puzzle that the embodied. If only he would divulge some information, even the greatest detective needed some clues. As if that would happen, he was always so aloof, detached. Even now, sitting across from her he was stiff as a board. Tension rippling through his well defined muscles.

Vegeta was too preoccupied in his head to notice her musings. He was already feeling nasty about losing out on so much of training because of this stupid excursion. _I should be training right now, but instead I'm wasting my time with this earthling. I need to transform and I need to do it now. That clown already has a head start. No doubt he would be mastering the transformation in the meantime. He and the other have already stolen my destiny killing Frieza. It was supposed to be mine, but I was too weak! Regardless, I should be able to transform. The clown was only training under 100G but I am up to 300G now._ He clenched his fists on the table and began to tremble in anger. _No, there had to be some other condition for the clown that caused him to transform. I am missing something._

Bulma noticed a change. He was about pop, she just knew it. He was looking at the table centerpiece, as if he was ready to attack. Whatever was going on in his head was really getting to him. She could practically feel anger radiating off him, and if he powered up now, he could hurt a lot of people. She did what she did best.

"Hey hot stuff!" He moved his murderous gaze up to her. _Whoops, probably not the best idea. Well, might as well go with it._ "I know the centerpiece is nice and all, but you have a beautiful woman sitting right in front of you, you know. She could use some of that attention you're wasting on those candles." She winked, silently hoping he would take the bait.

His glare faltered and he was slightly dumbfounded, the normally stoic mask falling briefly. However, he quickly regained his composure and smirked. "Is that so? Direct me, then, because I fail to see one."

Bulma's face burned up indignantly. Those sapphires lit up, and Vegeta wanted to see them burn.

"What's the matter, woman? No comeback? Cat caught your tongue?"

She was practically fuming! Steam was practically pouring out of her, fire dancing in her eyes, and Vegeta relished in her anger.

She looked away from him and muttered, "Whatever."

He uttered a short deep chuckle. Pissing the woman off really did wonders for his mood. In the matter of moment, all his anger had disappeared.

The sound shocked her. It was pleasing to the ears, and she suddenly wanted to hear it again.

She reverted her eyes back to him, features softening a bit. "Why do you seem to take pleasure in irritating me?"

He snorted. "It's not my fault, you're so easy to piss off."

She considered what he said. He really had a way of pushing her buttons and bringing out her nastiest side, but never once did he cower from her, like the others did. Instead, he kept on pushing. He was a formidable opponent indeed.

"You know Vegeta, you never back down from me. You never fear my reaction. I really respect that."

He quipped, "Me fear you? Ha! And why would I fear you? I am one of the strongest in the universe. I've destroyed worlds, more than I can remember. What could you, a small slip of a woman with negligible energy, hold that could threaten me?"

Her smile faded. She didn't know what type of response she had expected but that definitely wasn't it. Her posture drooped.

He noticed her disappointment, and for whatever reason, it didn't satisfy him. It didn't seem right to dull those bright eyes. He nonchalantly added, "Although, I must admit, you aren't as useless or pathetic as the other earthlings."

Her eyes snapped up to his. Did she hear him wrong? His deep onyx eyes burned into hers, and she knew he meant what he said. He really had just complimented her. Well, his version of a compliment. She broke out into a grin.

"You better be careful, Vegeta. That almost sounded like a compliment."

He rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Please, you're being completely delusional." He scowled at her.

"Well, whether you meant it as a compliment or not, thank you." She leaned closer over the table. "It's good to know that at least someone kind of recognizes it. I'm not nearly as strong as the rest of you, so I try to help in the best way I can, by using my brain." Her eyes slightly cloudy, sho continued. "And I know my friends care, but sometimes they just disregard my abilities and advice, even when it could be make or break."

"Hn."

Vegeta closely scrutinized her face. She really was bothered by the opinion of the weaklings. He didn't know why she even cared. It's not like anyone of her 'friends' were bright. If they didn't realize her usefulness, it was there loss. After all, it was her machines that they relied on often. Her plan on taking out Gero, while he was still vulnerable was a strategic one, one that would reduce the amount of potential casualties significantly. However, he really didn't care about the earthlings and relished the challenge. It was his opportunity to redeem his honor and status.

They both broke out of their reveries as several waiters came hailing large dishes, the first part of their meals. It was a good thing the table was so large. Bulma was suddenly very happy that they had a more private area in the restaurant. The few couples that were in sight of them, were in shock at the amount of food between the two of them. It smelled amazing. As soon as the waiters left, Vegeta dug in. It never failed to surprise her how much he was able to pack away. She wondered where all of it went.

He meticulously cleared his plates, occasionally taking breaks for sips. Bulma attempted to start conversations, but soon realized it was futile, and they continued eating in silence. The people around them were staring and she began to blush. You'd think she'd be used to this with Goku.

All of the food was delicious. By no means had the Briefs held out on him, but never had he ate such a variety of foods. There was one crunchy item that he really enjoyed. He swallowed his mouthful. He pointed to it and asked, "what is that."

"Those are egg rolls. They are actually one of my favorite appetizers." She was glad he was enjoying the food, though she was shocked he actually asked her a question in midst of the meal. She took a mental note that he must have really liked them. "I'll order some more."

She had to hand it to the wait staff. They really did an excellent job bringing food and clearing off the dirty dishes. She had finished her plate and was patiently waiting for him. Despite his quick pace, there was a lot of food to go around. An hour later, when he had finished all of the food, the waiter came around once again.

"And how was everything?"

Vegeta grunted and answered, "It was adequate."

The waiter's smile dropped, and Bulma came to the rescue. She shot a glare over at Vegeta. "Don't mind him. What he means to say is that everything was excellent." She flashed him a brilliant smile, making the waiter blush.

"May I interest you in any dessert."

She looked over at Vegeta questioningly. She had never actually seen him eat anything "sweet" in his time there. Maybe he just never had the opportunity before.

"We'll have two molten chocolate lava cakes."

"Yes, miss. I assume you want a larger one for the sir."

"Yes, please. Thank you." The waiter left and she turned back to Vegeta. "I hope you left some room for dessert. I've never seen you eat sweets, but the chocolate cake here is to die for, I promise."

Vegeta studied her cautiously. "Bold words. But can it live up to the hype?"

"Please", she flipped her hair. "One taste and you'll fall in love." She winked.

Her suggestive tone made him wonder if she was still talking about the cake. _What game is she playing?_ Ever up for a challenge, he raised an eyebrow and smirked. "We'll just have to see, now, wont we?"

She licked her lips. He was engaging her. She liked this more playful Vegeta. The waiter came back with two chocolate cakes and Bulma asked for the check.

"Alright woman, moment of truth." They took a bite together, and Vegeta was shocked. It flowed to smoothly down his throat. The flavor was perfect. He learned chocolate was definitely one of the things he liked most about this backwards planet. Bulma saw the way he attacked the cake and knew she had won this round. She quickly finished as big of a piece that she would allow herself and offered the rest to him. He ate it without question.

"Well, how did I do?"

He looked up at her with his smirk, but conceded. "Not bad. Not bad at all."

She beamed at him with a victorious smile. Winking, again, she declared, "I know."

She paid the check, leaving a rather generous tip, and they got up and began to walk outside, when she stopped. She spotted him at an empty table across the restaurant. "Hey, Vegeta. I think I see Yamcha. I just want to say hi and then we can, leave ok. He'll be upset if I don't stop by for a bit at least."

"Uggh, the weakling?"

"Yes, and his name is Yamcha. Cmon it won't take long. And he's a really good guy when you get to know him." She took off in his direction.

He rolled his eyes but followed her. The weakling was the most irritating of all of them, but he was of no consequence to him and he could't care less. He just wanted to get back to training as soon as possible, and if that meant meeting with the weakling, he would comply. After all, it was always amusing to put down the weakling.

"Hey Yamcha, it's nice seeing you here. I was going to call you as soon as I got home."

Yamcha's face lit up when he saw Bulma. "Hey Bulma, it's really good seeing you too! Hey look! Im really sorry bout everything I said last night. I wasn't thinking clearly and it just came out."

"Hey its ok! I'm happy to see you."

He stood up and hugged Bulma. "Me too babe. Me too."

It was then that he noticed Vegeta standing a few feet away from them, arms crossed. Yamcha's face dropped. He pulled away from Bulma, face contorting in anger. "What is he doing here?" He looked between the two, voice rising. "Is he here with you? Bulma, are you crazy?"

Bulma turned on him. "How dare you! I am NOT crazy! And yes, he is here with me. We were just getting some lunch."

Yamcha started trembling. "I knew it. You're cheating on me with HIM! Why else would you be hanging out with him. How could you? He killed me!"

Vegeta pushed himself off the wall and took a few steps closer. "Perhaps, weakling, because I'm better company." He smirked. "For the record, you were killed by a barely sentient plant. I only fight warriors, and you are anything but."

That did it. All remnants of nervous Yamcha were gone. His glare fixed on Vegeta and he started advancing. "Shut up, you stupid monkey! This isn't any of your business."

Vegeta was now furious. Nobody called him a monkey, and got away with. It brought back memories of Frieza, and he was less than pleased at the reminder. A cruel spread over features and stalked over, prey in his sights. "You really want to do this, worm. You have just ensured your demise in the worst way possible." He laughed maniacally. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy this. It's been a while since I've killed something."

Yamcha lost all courage, and proceeded to back up. "I thought you don't fight weaklings," he squeaked out.

"For you, I think I will make an exception. Besides, it won't be much of a fight, more like a slaughter."

Things were really getting out of hand. Sure Yamcha was a dick, but he didn't deserve to die, though she didn't mind seeing him get his ass whooped a bit. She decided to intervene, as she had no doubt Vegeta would make good on his threats. She stepped in front of Vegeta. "Hey, Vegeta. Stop this." His expression scared the shit out of her, it was borderline feral.

"Get out of my way, woman."

She placed her hands on his chest, and he tensed. "Look, we all know you could kill him in an instant, but there's no honor in killing someone so much weaker than yourself. He doesn't deserve it." She met his eyes. "Please, let it go this time. He's an idiot."

He couldn't understand why but her hands on his chest calmed him down and made him tense at the same time. He took a deep breath, reigning in his anger, and shot him a dirty glare. "She just saved your life, worm. Do not test my patience. Next time I will go through with my threat, regardless of whomever may be around."

Bulma stepped away from Vegeta and rounded on Yamcha. "You idiot! Vegeta and I came to the mall to get him some clothes. Then, we got hungry so we came here for lunch. That's all."

Yamcha was dumbstruck. "So, you're not… you know?"

Bulma's face turned red. "No, Yamcha. That's what I've been trying to tell you, but you never listen. You either ignore what I say or jump to conclusions. I swear, sometimes I don't even know why I bother."

"B, I'm so sorry. I really am. It's just I love you and I feel like we've been drifting apart. I just got insecure." He looked at Vegeta and then back to her. "Let's catch up later, please."

Bulma huffed at him and crossed her arms. "Alright, Yamcha, but you better listen, ok."

"Sounds good, B."

She was relatively satisfied with answer and was about to turn around to leave, when she heard a high pitched squeal followed by a "I'm baaack, hope you didn't miss me too much". A blue haired woman emerged and gave Yamcha a kiss on the cheek before settling across from him. She wore a much too tight red dress, her boobs practically spilling out. She grabbed his hand from across the table. "I'm so sorry it took so long, Yam-yam. My girlfriend was calling me!" She winked at him, "but don't worry, I'll make it up to you."

Vegeta looked on with morbid curiosity. The other woman looked a lot like Bulma. They had similar hair and eye colors. They were both attractive, but that's where the similarities ended. Bulma was dressed a lot more elegantly, while the woman looked cheap. Not to mention this woman seemed like an airhead. It seemed like the worm was entertaining this cheap knock off.

It took Bulma a couple minutes to piece together what she was seeing. She looked between the two and saw Yamcha's cheeks grow hot. There were two places set at the table, where this woman was now sitting. What had she called him? _Yam-yam?_ Gross, it made her want to gag. _Hold up, did she just kiss him?_ Ding ding ding. It hit her like a bus.

"You jerk! What the hell do you think you are doing here with her? With HER?!"

"Bulma. I…I…It's not what it looks like."

"Ohhhh, _really!"_ Bulma spat out. "Because it looks like your out on a date with Krillen's ex girlfriend! How could _you?_ You asshole!"

"Calm down, old lady. Yam-yam and I were just having a bit of fun, what's the big deal anyway? It's not serious or anything. He just made reservations a week ago, wasn't that sweet of him?"

"A week ago, is that right? That's funny. From what I recall, Yamcha doesn't even think that far ahead." She was so absolutely pissed. Whenever they went out, he always wanted to go somewhere low-key. And she paid. Clearly, this wasn't the case today.

"Well he did, for me! It was so unexpected!" She squealed and flipped her hair.

She directed all of her attention at Yamcha. Her disbelief at the scenario and her overwhelming anger made her steely calm. "So not only were you cheating on me … again. But this time you cheated your best friend too. You know how Krillin felt about her. You know it would crush him if he found out you were fooling around with Maron." She shook her head. "And you had the audacity to accuse me of cheating, when it was you the whole time. Insecure my ass. You just wanted a way to justify your own actions. Guess what, jackass, I never cheated. Never once. What the hell do you have to say about yourself?"

Surprisingly, it was Vegeta who spoke. "You, woman." He pointed to Maron. "The worm is paying you for entertaining him, is he not? He must be. I cannot see any other reason you would be with such a weakling."

"No silly, he doesn't pay me to hang out! I hang out with him because he's hot and sweet and he gets me really nice presents. Although," she moved towards Vegeta and wrapped her arms around his bicep, "he isn't nearly as attractive as you are. I'd love to feel all of those muscles. What do you say we get out of here." She winked at Vegeta and he stiffened.

This was the breaking point for Bulma. She turned out Maron and yelled as loudly as she could. "You! Get lost, you FLOOZY!" Maron let go Vegeta in shock and backed away. "You want Yamcha? You can have him! Just stay the fuck out of my life and I won't rip you apart." She grabbed Vegeta but looked at Yamcha. "Hope she was fucking worth it!" She stomped off with Vegeta in tow.

Bulma was cursing him the whole way back to the car. She had been with him for over a decade. Over a _decade._ How could he throw something like that away so easily. He had cheated once before. Well, that she had found out about. But when confronted, he apologized profusely and had promised that it would never happen again. That with the introduction of the Saiyan threat he had realized what was important in life. Clearly, he was just full of shit. She would not cry. Not over him. Not again. Eyes watering, she held the tears back with everything she had.

They walked over to the place she had parked the car. Vegeta followed her in silence. He could tell she was in distress, but she held it together. That weakling, how despicable. Clearly him and the woman had some agreement of exclusivity and the worm had broken those terms. He was glad he had embarrassed him, with his new woman. She had taken one look at him, and dropped the worm almost instantly. The punishment was less than he deserved, but satisfying enough for him. However, he had not forgotten the monkey comment.

Bulma stopped dead in her tracks. Where her luxurious sports car was parked, was an empty parking spot. She mentally kicked herself. What else had she expected. She was an idiot not to have capsulized it. Screaming in frustration, she punched a metal pole. Bulma howled in pain, grabbed her injured hand and slumped against the assaulted pole. Tears were now freely flowing down her face and her breathing ragged.

"SON OF A BITCH!" she yelled out.

Vegeta approached cautiously. He had never seen the woman act like this way before and he was at a loss of what to do. "What is it, woman?" His voice came out more annoyed than concerned. "I'm finished with this place, and would like to get back to training _today_."

She looked up at him with her tear stained face. "What the hell, do you think we're here for? The car's gone. There's nothing more I want than being at home right now, Vegeta, but with car gone… I don't even care about that right now." She took "I just want to get home."

"Then, get up, woman."

This ticked her off. "Did you not just here what I said?" She screamed at him.

"Will you just shut up and do what I say!" He yelled right back.

Emotionally drained, she complied. He looked at her intently before moving closer, until he was right in front of her. She looked up at him. _What was he doing?_ "Vegeta? What…?" she softly whispered. He took her hands and examined where she had punched the pole. He noted that there were other bruises forming around her wrist. It was from where he had grabbed her earlier on. _So fragile,_ he mused. He wrapped her arms around his neck and grabbed her around the waist, careful not to hurt her. He then, pulled her tighter, her face nuzzling into his neck.

For a moment, Bulma actually thought he was hugging her. Her cheeks burned at the contact. Never had they been in such close proximity. She was hit with his scent; he smelled of fresh musk. His natural cologne was entrancing, and she breathed it in. She took note of his powerful arms pressing his form into hers; it was solid against her, immovable, steady, and she drew comfort from it. She realized that this was Vegeta and he didn't do personal contact. His shift in behavior and relatively delicate handling of her was starting to make her nervous. She looked up at him to try and figure him out, but he was looking straight ahead. When he started floating off the ground and she realized, he planned on flying them.

"Hang on." He gruffly warned a second before taking off. At first the wind was too much for Bulma. She panicked as they picked up speed. She screamed and shut her eyes. And then all of a sudden nothing, her screams died and she peeked out of one eye and saw that he had thrown up an energy barrier around. The air around them was charged and crackled with his energy. She felt a small portion pass through her at the proximity. It felt amazing, addicting even. She had never felt anything so powerful before. _Woah, this is how he feels all the time. No wonder he calls us all weak._ They had the bird's eye view and it was incredible. She had flown before, but this was different. She felt safe, in control. _What the heck, I feel safe with Vegeta? When did that happen?_ She let out screams of joy as they zipped between skyscrapers of West City. Unfortunately, her excitement was short lived, as they had made it back in less than ten minutes.

He landed in the complex less than gently. As soon as their feet touched the ground, he pulled away. Bulma was still getting her bearings and nearly fell over, when Vegeta caught her arm and she rested against him for a moment. She was exhausted and he was an immovable wall. She looked up at him with a weak smile. "Thanks, Vegeta."

He only grunted in response and moved away when he knew she could support her own weight. That was that, and he began to walk away, when her question stopped him.

"Why'd you do it? Why did you interfere with … you know. And why did you fly me home." She had noticed how he had defended her with Yamcha. It was a change in his usually aloof self. He wouldn't get involved in the matter of others, for the most part. It comforted her.

Vegeta was a little shocked by the question. He didn't think she had taken notice of that. "Don't read into it, woman." He smirked. "Anything to antagonize the weakling." He now looked at her, scowling. "As for the ride, don't come to expect it. I needed to get back to my training as soon as possible, that's all. I brought you along, because you were not in the state to make it back by your own means. If something happened, who would fix my gravity room." He crossed his arms and began to leave.

For the second time, she stopped him. "Vegeta." He turned around exasperated. _Would she not leave him alone?_ She fished out his capsule and threw it over to him. She smiled, and continued, "A deal's a deal. I'll get your armor later."

He nodded and proceeded to leave to change into training clothes before heading over to the gravity. Maybe he could still make up for his day's little detour.

* * *

 _Additional notes:_ Didn't want to put this on top, but what'd you guys think of the whole Bulma/Yamcha thing? Is only Yamcha in the wrong? Is it ok for Bulma to be as pissed as she is, when she's hanging with Vegeta? Did she overreact, or is she in the right? Let me know!

Vegeta is a pretty complex character, and probably my favorite in the series. It's mainly because of his character development throughout the series, so I hope I did him justice. At this point, I think he's still adjusting, even though he's been around for a bit, so he's not as vicious.


	6. Chapter 6

The first week was the hardest. Getting out of bed was a struggle, and the gloomy weather wasn't helping matters much either. They had been together for over a decade. A _decade._ All that time, it felt wasted. For reasons she couldn't comprehend, she pulled out their old album. Over ten years worth of pictures assaulted her. _Am I a masochist?_ Still she went through their pictures. Both had changed so much over the years. She touched the picture of them at Goku and Chichi's wedding. They looked so happy then; everything was so light and easy back then. Their little gang had always gotten in trouble, but none of it even seemed perilous. They all just assumed that everything would work out just like it always did. But, now… Everything had changed when the Saiyan had landed, and their indestructible champion, their endless source of hope had died. Thats when she realized that they weren't entitled to win, and there was a chance that they could lose everything in the blink of an eye.

From that point on, they had started to see things very differently. Yamcha was still oblivious as ever, messing around, while Bulma took a more hands on approach. She began to grow and stopped pushing aside her responsibilities as much. She had worked countless hours at the Capsule Corp labs. Inventing, revamping, she worked herself up to the executive position. Granted, she would have received it, regardless, as an heiress. Still, she worked harder than most veterans of the company.

As she got more involved with her work, she began to pay less and less attention to her rather carefree boyfriend. Suddenly, his suggestions on going to crowded bars with friends didn't seem as appealing anymore. They also got into arguments a lot more, which generally ended with him caving in and apologizing or just leaving. It irritated her to no end. Why couldn't he fight for her? Wasn't she worth it to him anymore. _Clearly not._ She silently fumed. _With that_ _floozy all over him, he proved it._ Still, she couldn't help but feel hurt, betrayed, and … maybe a little bit guilty. It wasn't him that changed, well much. It was her. Tears came streaming down her face. _Am I the real reason we broke up? Oh Yamcha._ She curled up under her covers, and shut the blinds. Silent tears flowed as she breathed in and out deeply. She wouldn't sob for him though, not for someone who cheated on her.

* * *

"Bulma, darling. Can I come in?" Mrs. Briefs knocked a few more times. She entered before Bulma could respond, carrying a tray full of food. She opened up the curtains spilling out morning light into the room, before heading over to bed to sit, and placed the tray beside her.

Bulma growled and pulled the sheets up over her face. "Moooom, just go away. Can't you see i'm trying to sleep."

"Now Bulma, you know its not healthy to lock yourself up in here. You've barely come out for the past few days." She looked over to the trash can spilling out pizza boxes and many empty cartons of ice-cream. "Oh no, and look at what you've been eating. Honey, you need to look after yourself now more than ever. You're single now, but don't fret, there are so many handsome men, if I wasn't already married to your father …"

"MOM!" Bulma cut her off. "I really don't want to hear this right now."

"But, there are just so many opportunities out there for you honey, and you know you aren't getting any younger. I do want grand babies, you know."

"Ahhh!" Bulma started to pull out her hair. "Mother, you need to get out, right now! I can't deal with this right now.."

"Oh my, such a mood! I thought you got over this stage after your teenage years. I'm only telling you what's best, honey." But she got up anyway and started to head for the door. Just before she left, she turned around and said, "You should get out today, pamper yourself. At least check in with your father. He was asking for you. Something about a project." Leaving the door open, she slipped outside, humming to herself.

Bulma growled. "Great! Now I have to get up and shut the windows and door. I swear, she did that on purpose." She took a look around her room and wrinkled her nose. She wasn't known for being the tidiest person around, but this was just unacceptable. There were half empty food containers everywhere. Tissues in pile on her side table and the room smelled like a sweaty locker room. Maybe her mother had a point after all. She had all but neglected her duties for the past few days, occasionally answering email while watching romantic comedies and packing away plenty of sugary delights.

 _How pathetic! Am I really letting a guy effecting my work?_ She walked over to the full length mirror and gave herself a once over. She looked like a mess. Old and slightly faded mascara lines running down her face, and clothes stained with what she identified as a mix of ice-cream soup and pizza sauce. She pulled a used tissue from her tangled heap of hair.

"Uggh, that's gross. Pull it together, Bulma. I never let him get in the way of my work when we were together! And I'll be damned if he starts to when he's gone."

She grabbed a towel and marched into the bathroom. She was going to remind the world what an asset Bulma Briefs truly is. That is, after she took a nice, hot shower.

* * *

Vegeta had barely left the gravity room for the passed few days. He only stopped briefly for food and sleep. After the mall, he had noticed a substantial increase in his power. He had worked himself up to where he could almost reach 500G. He had almost broken the bots on several occasions but had relented. He noticed that they were lagging, and when confronting the old man, he said that he would be unable to fix them, as he was completely unfamiliar with his daughter's style on this project.

He fell into his routine of dodging, and throwing a variety of punches and kicks. He hadn't seen her at all lately. It seemed that she'd never her leave her room, opting to avoid everyone. Her ki was always located around the area, and would occasionally spike and then fall, not that he was paying any mind to it. It irritated him that this response was due to that worm. And yet, he recalled the way she had looked at him, when he had flown them. Despite her distress caused by the weakling, she had clung to him when he had pulled her close before. When she had scented him, he had to look away and reign himself in from doing something rash. He could hear her heartbeat quicken and she pressed herself further into him. When she had looked up at him with gratitude in her large eyes, he had to force himself not to run the other way.

Vegeta's concentration wavered and he was almost grazed by a blast from the lagging bots. He forced himself to focus and shoved her from his mind. It had the tendency to drift to her time to time lately and it was unbecoming of a warrior like himself to lose focus over such.

He would seek her out soon enough. He had to get these bot updated. He also needed to make sure she wasn't going back on their deal on his armor's production.

* * *

Bulma efficiently stroked her eyelashes with the mascara wand. She was putting the finishing touches on her makeup. After spending the day working in the lab with her father, she felt that she deserved a pick me up and called up the girls for a night in the city. She had finally started to catch up on the work that her dumbass ex-boyfriend had made her miss. Dressed in a deep teal, expensive little number, she straightened her hair and applied a deep rouge lipstick. Silver pumps on, she strutted to her full-length mirror and gave herself a once over. This was the Bulma Briefs she knew, not the mess that spent the last few days groveling in her filth. _I look like a million bucks! Well, I should, because I'm worth a whole lot more._ She laughed to herself, feeling every bit as confident as she should.

Checking her phone's messages for the arrival of her friends, she realized her voicemail was completely full. Upon seeing _his_ calls, she felt a bit disheartened. _Snap out of it girl! You will not let him ruin your time. It's your night and you will have fun. Forget about him._ Her phone rang with the text 'here', and she promised herself she would try to have fun.

* * *

"You know you're too good for him right."

"Yeah, he was cute but not that cute."

"He's a loser, and you're crazy rich and awesome. It's his loss."

The five girls were sitting at the bar of the city's most exclusive nightclub, already 3 shots in.

Bulma flipped her hair. "Yeah I know guys, but you know how it is when you've been with someone since you were kids. They seem like your forever… And its the way we ended it too. Can you believe he cheated on me?" She downed another shot and ordered another drink. "And you should've seen the girl too. She's such a bimbo. Honestly, it's like he tried to find a trashy, stupid version of me."

The blonde on her right took two more shots.

"Hey slow down there, Trix. Is everything alright? You've been kinda quiet all night."

The four girls turned their attention to her. The blonde seemed somewhat agitated, but hadn't spoken up about anything.

"Yeah, I'm good." Trixie responded. "I was just wondering, could you be overreacting. Are you sure they were together together? When did this happen?"

Bulma place a finger on her chin. "Well, if you're asking if they're sleeping together, I don't know for a fact that they are, but I did find them all snuggled up at Amuse-Bouche last week. It was the day after we had that fight when I'm pretty sure he was drinking at a bar with some of his baseball friends."

The redhead name Anna stood up, and almost screamed. "What! Are you serious? Amuse-Bouche is like the hottest new restaurant? How could he afford that on just his baseball salary?"

Bulma huffed, "Maybe he saved up from all the times I paid for dinner and everything else."

"Well that settles it! He must be screwing her. Guys just don't spend that much money on a girl if they're not. Especially if he's not rich."

"He didn't spend that kind of money when we were together." Bulma steamed, and blew some hair from face.

Trixie had a pained expression on her face. She clenched and unclenched her fists and slammed them on the table. This made all the girls look over at her in confusion. Noticing their glances, she quickly composed herself. "Well that just means he really is a bastard." She spat out with more malice than expected. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm done talking about that loser. We came here to have fun, so let's do it."

Bulma looked up at Trixie. Something didn't seem right with her. Sure she was a passionate woman, but something about the way she talked about Yamcha, made it seem personal. Trix was a good friend and she was always invested in their relationship, but this seemed a little overkill. She decided to store the thought away for a later time, though. This was a time to not think, and that's exactly what she would try to do. All five of them took an additional shot before heading to the dance floor.

Bulma was quickly learning that the nightclub was not her scene. She was having fun when her friends were dancing all together, but soon, they got separated as they all started dancing with guys that approached them. Trix was actively grinding on two different guys as two more fetched her more liquor. Anna and the others had their own respective guys that were flirting and dancing and they switched partners ever so often. Bulma, on the other hand, was not enjoying the multitude of drunk guys that were lining up to dance with her. Usually she didn't mind the attention, but something was different about this time. The once hot guys that surrounded her at events like this had transformed into older men, probably sneaking around behind their wives.

As she made her away from the dance floor, she was met with a multitude of protests from guys trying to feel her up. She simply ignored them, pushing through the crowd. That was, until, a rather large bald man grabbed her arm.

"Where youuuu going, babe." He slurred. "Come onnn. Don't be a downer. Dance with me."

She tried to slip out of his grip, but even drunk, he was strong. Her own intake was making her head dizzy.

She tried the traditional lie. "Hey, I can't. I have a boyfriend, and I know he won't like me dancing with other guys."

He leered at her, but let her go. "Really? I don't see himmm." He brashly took a step into her personal space, sandwiching her between him and the rest of the crowd.

Bulma's heart started racing. Her mind was working overtime, trying to clear out the fuzz and figure a way out, when she heard a familiar voice.

"That's because you haven't turned around."

* * *

 _Author's Note: Hey guys! It's been a while. Sorry about that. Been a busy bee lately. This one was kind of hard to write too, and definitely not my favorite, but sometimes you gotta lay some groundwork. Next chapter will be out soon._

 _Who is this savior?_ _As always, let me know what you think._


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** Do I really need to keep writing these? It's not mine okay?

Authors Note: Whoops, I did it again! Sorry for the delay guys! I actually lost this chapter and then had to rewrite most of it. I ended up pushing it off because its boring to redo things you've already finished. Anyways thanks for being patient! And special thanks to everyone who reviewed, it actually motivated me enough to get off my butt and finish writing.

* * *

The drunken man took a step back and turned around. He sized up this new intruder, weighing his options. He had to crane his neck upward to look at this new man.

"Well too bad. You shouldn't have left a piece of ass like that all alone on the dance floor. Dumb move, kid."

Bulma would have interjected, but the alcohol, flashing lights, loud music, and lack of space, being stuck between this idiot and a rather crowded dance floor, was too much. Her head was spinning and there was roaring in her ears. Spots dancing in her vision. She was struggling to keep her balance and her breathing was becoming ragged. She was being jostled by the crowd behind her and was almost thrown into it.

The intruder glared at the man, and warned, "move, before I move you myself."

The drunken man was quickly becoming disinterested with the situation, and decided it wasn't worth it to get into it. He grumbled and left, disappearing into the crowd to bother some other chick.

The taller guy rushed to catch Bulma before she could fall. He supported her weight and shook her a few times to make sure she was still conscious.

"Ms. Briefs, Bulma, just take a few deep breaths."

Bulma strained to look at him, but everything was still fuzzy.

"Can't… too… much… here", she started to gasp between her words. It felt like there was a hurricane in her head. "Outside."

He walked her to the terrace, her leaning on him. It was open with tables and chairs, unfortunately all of which were occupied. He took them to one with a few guys drinking beer and laughing. He gave them his most serious look, and told them to move. He was met with a few annoyed grumbles and choice words, but they complied. He sat Bulma down on one of the chair, and asked the waiter to bring water.

She slumped onto the chair and was nodding of when she heard a soft voice.

"Hey there. Stay with me now. Here, take some water."

She absently took small sips until her mind started clearing up. She blinked a few times and focused on the face of her savior. When she recognized him, she almost spit out her mouthful.

"Mark!" She almost screamed.

The tall blonde smiled at her. "Well if you're yelling, it's a good sign that you're coming around."

She buried her burning face in her hands. _No, this could not be happening. Maybe this is all just a bad dream. That's it. Maybe if I open my eyes, I'll wake up in my bed pathetically crying over Yamcha. That would be less embarrassing._ She opened her eyes, and no such luck.

"Oh my God. I can't believe you just saw me like that. How unprofessional."

Mark was the newest member on the board of Capsule Corp. So far his impression of her probably consisted of her missing a ton of meetings and this situation.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Everyone has their moments sometimes. But I have to ask you, you seemed pretty out of it. Did that guy slip you something?"

"No, no. Nothing like that. I just drank a little bit more than I'm used to. And the noise, lights, people. It was getting kind of hard to breathe in there."

"Yeah and it looked like that guy wasn't helping."

"Well, I guess I'm lucky that my boyfriend was there to shoo him off." She winked at him.

He blushed at that and looked at her sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry about that. I figured that he was bothering you, and I figured the quickest way to get rid of him was to say I was."

Bulma smiled. "Don't apologize. You've helped me out so much today. You have been a better fake boyfriend than my real boyfriend has … well, I guess, ex-boyfriend now." Her shoulder slumped forward a bit.

"Pardon me for intruding, but is that why I haven't seen you around for the past week?"

"Yeah, pretty sad right."

"Please. When my girlfriend and I broke up, all I did was hide out in my office and sneak in cake. I brought in so much, the entire company thought it was my birthday."

"Ice-cream has been my guilty pleasure. Today was the first day I decided to go out, and we saw how that turned out. I wanted to take a night for myself and forget about him."

"Well if you're feeling up to it, we can head back over to the dance floor. What do you say? You can enjoy yourself, and I can ward off any other guys getting to friendly."

Bulma smiled at that. Mark really was a sweet guy, and she didn't want to lead him on. "I think I've had my fair share of excitement for the night. Its best if I head home now. My head still hurts from the whole debacle. Loud music and sweaty people won't help right now." She carefully got up from her seat, legs still wobbly. _I guess I really did drink more than I thought._

"Mark, if I haven't said this already, thank you so much. Things wouldn't have been good if you hadn't come to help."

He beamed at her. " Well, that's what fake boyfriends are for." He winked. Before she could leave, he called out to her once more. "Bulma". When she turned back to face him, his expression was serious. "I don't know what happened between you and your boyfriend, but sometimes it helps to hear the other person out. Even if you can't forgive them, it might bring you some closure."

She nodded and headed to the limo. The driver was still there, relaxing by the valet with a few friends. When he saw her, he straightened up.

"Ms. Briefs. Is everything alright? Where are the others?"

"Don't worry, everything's fine. The rest are still inside, partying. I think I just had one too many. Could you drop me home, real quick. It looks like they're gonna be at it for a while, and I just want to lie down."

The driver nodded and proceeded to get into the car. As the car started, she couldn't help but ponder Mark's words. Perhaps some closure would be good for her. Her and Yamcha had been together for years, but before that they were friends. Despite everything that may have transpired between them, it would be a shame to ruin such a lasting friendship. She took a deep breath in and selected his first message. One by one she listened to every voicemail. They were lengthy, emotional, and occasionally slightly slurred, but message was the same. 'I'm sorry. I miss you. It's not what you think, Maron and I are just friends. Give me another chance.'

She stared out the window, and watch the city lights pass them. It really was a beautiful night. She wasn't sure how to respond, but there was a sense of peace about not knowing her next move. At the moment, she was numb, but she didn't mind it. Bulma knew that she would need to confront him sooner or later, but for now, she was oddly ok. Perhaps it was unfair, but knowing that he still wanted her was comforting. Ultimately, it would be her choice to determine the nature of their relationship, and whether they would have one.

He was absolutely exhausted. Vegeta lay stretched out on his back on the slanted roof of Capsule Corp. His muscles were satisfyingly sore after a nonstop day of training. The warm breeze was soothing to his sweat glistened chest. Head pillowed under his arms, he watched the night sky. Even with the pollution from the city, he could see the different stars. The inhabitants of this humdrum planet, not having ample space travel save for the Briefs family, looked at the expanse with the innocence and curiosity of a child. From here, the vastness of space looked peaceful; the universe pure. From the pain inflicted on him and the pain he had inflicted on others, he knew that the reality was anything but.

Now, in three years time, even this backwater planet would be subject the harshness of reality. Nothing stayed peaceful for long. And he was now fated to die, in three years, by the hands of nothing but machines. Well, he wouldn't let that happen. He was so close! He could almost taste it. Vegeta's ki lightly crackled around him. _I will achieve the Legendary. I will beat the android. I will defeat Kakarot. And then, and only then will I rise to take my rightful place as the ruler of the universe!_

A loud thump, followed by some muffled cussing pulled him out of his stupor. He turned in time to see that the woman was climbing over the side of the balcony ledge close to him. She was climbing over it backwards, ungracefully hanging over the rail, so he got an eyeful of her ass in the short dress. He raised his eyebrow and wondered if she knew he was there. He wouldn't put it past her. But he had to admit, he did enjoy the view.

"Crap, ouch. Maybe this wasn't your smartest decision, Bulma."

Her heels finally hit the sloped ground, and she straightened herself up. Bulma held onto the railing. She was still having trouble getting her bearings.

"Perhaps, but talking to yourself, doesn't really scream smart, now does it?"

She jumped and nearly slipped off the house. Its a good thing she was already holding on, otherwise she would have been a goner for sure. Knees on the incline, she crawled her way up to a standing position, never letting go of the railing. She turned to see Vegeta lying down with his head pillowed under his head, smirking up at her.

"VEGETA! WHY WOULD YOU SCARE ME LIKE THAT?! YOU CAN'T JUST GO POPPING IN EVERYWHERE LIKE THAT. I COULD'VE SLIPPED AND DIED, YOU JERK."

He chuckled and rose a little onto his forearms. "I was here the whole time, woman. You were the one who 'just popped in'."

"Oh", she squeaked. "You were there. So you saw…?". Her cheeks tinted with embarrassment.

"Your less than graceful entrance? Yes, woman I saw. And I do not think your attire is suitable for such acrobatics." Oh, she was going to get it. This was revenge for all the times she had left him stuttering like an idiot.

She blushed profusely. "Oh… I see." She opened and closed her mouth, but no words came out.

Wow, this was a nice change of pace. Usually, he couldn't get her to shut up.

Bulma managed to find her voice. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't know you were here. This is just the place I come to clear my head ever since I was a kid. Mind if I join you?"

He grunted and she took that as a yes. She slid down beside him.

Now that she was facing him, he was able to get a good look at her. Her blue dress perfectly complemented her eyes and hair, and beautifully contrasted with her blushed features and red lips. She looked absolutely ethereal under the moonlight. He watched her look up the night sky from under his lashes.

Bulma glanced at him and her breathing hitched. He was studying her intently. She might've been imagining it, but to her it seemed the entire world had gone quiet. She couldn't hear anything but her increasingly loud heartbeat.

The silence was cut by the entrance of the robot butler. "Miss Bulma, I have your snack." It placed a large tray on the rail.

His eyes released hers, and she was able to breath again. Bulma carefully got up and took the tray from the bot.

"Hey, Vegeta. Do you want something to drink?"

"Sure, why not." He watched her pull some drinks from the bot's unit and balance them on the already full tray.

Sitting back down, she dismissed the bot and handed him a can. He popped it open and sniffed it before taking a sip. "This is different from the vile smelling beverage." He started taking faster sips, not realizing how dehydrated he had been after all the training he had done.

"You mean alcohol? Yeah no, this is soda. It's not the best for you, but it tastes good and gives a little boost." She opened up her own can and sipped on it. "I wan't gonna open another bottle. I've more than enough tonight."

"Good, that smells foul. I can only imagine, it tastes worse."

"You're not wrong. It's an acquired taste. Most people hate it at first, but they get used to it over time because it makes them feel good. It's not great to get into the habit of drinking it too much, though. I am surprised that you don't drink. Don't they have it in space?"

He considered not answering the question. Why did she care anyway? After a minute or two, he conceded. "Something like it, but much stronger than what you earthlings drink. Many soldiers did indeed drink, but they generally didn't live long. In my line of work, it isn't wise to lose control of one's faculties. The drink we had was extremely addictive as well. The costs greatly outweighed the benefits."

Bulma's eyes widened. _Woah, that's probably the first thing he's told me about space. Ok, cool it Bulma. You know he spooks easy._

She opened up the large dish, and Vegeta eyed it curiously. The delicious aroma of burgers and fries wafted into air.

"The perfect way to cure a hangover, before it happens." She caught him staring at the dish and smiled. "You can take some if you want, I'm not that hungry. There's no way I could finish this on my own."

As predicted, she filled herself quickly and left him the rest. "Wow, that hit the spot. I really overdid it on the drinking tonight. I think I'm still a little lightheaded and buzzed though."

Vegeta snorted. "You don't say." Pushing away the now empty dish, he lay back down. "Making good decisions, are we woman?" Now that he was full, he was up for another verbal spar. He liked getting on her nerves.

"It's Bulma. A. Bulma. Five letters. Surely even _you_ could remember that."

For whatever reason, that word always got her riled up. Of course he remembered her name, but this was so much more amusing. He grunted, "I only remember things that are useful."

"Well maybe you would, if you had the brain capacity to do so. Tell me Vegeta, can you walk and think at the same time? It must be hard for you."

 _Oh, she's really asking for it. Fine, let's play._ "Says the one who was cheering for that amphibian on Namek, instead of running or hiding. Apparently common sense isn't so common after all. Going gaga over right hand man of Frieza. What did you think he would do? Bring you flowers?"

Her face went beet red. "You noticed that?", she squeaked.

"Of course you Vulgar woman. You were practically falling all over him. Who wouldn't?"

 _Oh my God! I can't believe he remembered that. That bastard! And the gall he has bringing it up now. Wow, he really has a sharp tongue, doesn't he. Nobody's given me this much trouble before. Well if he thinks I'm going to be left with my mouth hanging open like an idiot, he's mistaken. Two can play at that game._ Bulma's panic and blush disappeared and her mouth curved into a sharp smile.

"Me vulgar, huh? What about you tough guy? I haven't forgotten you sneaking into the lingerie store behind. Trying to catch a peek, were you? Well I can't say that I blame you."

She had once again flipped the tables on him. How did she do it? It was his turn to blush. "I..I No, of course not! I was simply making sure you were not buying me any more of those accursed pink shirts."

"Cmon, Vegeta, you can tell me, it's fine. Even Krillin and the others used to try to get a peek in here and there. You can admit it."

"I am nothing like those weaklings. I do not need to resort to such measures." His energy began to charge the air. He would not be compared to such weaklings.

"Alright, I believe you. But I did promise no more pink, didn't I? Trust me, will you?"

He simply grunted and looked away.

Her phone buzzed and she sighed. Another message from Yamcha. Really? Did he not know how to give someone space. She wanted to talk to someone about it, but who? Her mom was a ditz who fawned over all slightly attractive men. Her dad was absentminded about anything other than machinery. The gang had their loyalties to Yamcha and would be undoubtedly biased. Out of her immediate acquaintances that just left… She looked back over to Vegeta.

"Yamcha wants us to get back together, but I don't know."

 _Oh my God. Am I really talking to Vegeta about this. What the hell was I thinking? I must still be drunk._ He continued to look up at the sky but he made no move to tell her to shut up.

"He insists that nothing happened with that woman. I don't know if I should believe him or not. But if I don't, all those years, I'd have to start all over again. I just thought I'd be so much farther along by now. Married, maybe a couple kids on the way, you know?"

"I can't relate."

"What? You don't kids?", she asked softly. "Not planning on continuing the royal bloodline?"

He snorted and rolled his eyes. "That idea died a long time ago, along with the rest of the Saiyan race."

"But there must be other viable species, right? Gohan is proof of that. What if you had a kid in space? No offense, but you don't really seem …er inexperienced."

His gazed snapped onto her and eyes darkened. "You are venturing into some dangerous territory. Even if I could, I wouldn't have children. If by some minute chance I had sired some snot nosed brat, I would have put it down."

Intense fear ran down her spine and she was fixed in her spot like a deer caught in the headlights. Blue eyes wide with shock and terror. "What … no …" There had to be some mistake. Some explanation. Voice quaking, she barely managed to speak. "You wouldn't… Why?… How could you say … "

He looked her dead in the eyes, "Do NOT presume to know me!" His cold voice cut through the night. The noises seemed to silence at his will and temperature dropped. "Yes I would have, and it would have been a mercy."

She was visibly shaking. "What…how?", she squeaked.

He took her in. Fear. Yes, finally. Fear, he was used to. Hell, he relished in it. Seeing it, smelling it, tasting it. It was coming off her in palpable waves, and made the predator in him roar in rhythm with the moon. His phantom tail was waving in the air. A menacing smile spread across his face on its own volition. Truly, it was a fantastic feeling. Liberating even.

But as his eyes settled back on her face, there was a small uncomfortable feeling in his gut with the thought of her fearing him. It was nothing, really. But as he moved to obliterate the minor inconvenience, he found himself answering anyway. His voice no longer menacing, was little more than the whistle of wind "Because no child deserves to grow up under Frieza's slavery. Believe me when I say there are fates worse than death. I should know."

Right then, all of Bulma's fear vanished. Her eyes softened. Of course. Krillen had told her that he had been taken as a kid. What the bastard had done to him, to mold him in his image, anyone could guess. It made sense.

"Vegeta … you know that things aren't like that anymore, right? You're safe now. You're safe here."

He swiftly stood up. Looking anywhere but to her. "I don't need your pity, woman. Don't make me laugh. Safe? Have you forgotten about the androids that are to destroy your world? 'Safe' is a notion for weak-minded fools who refuse to look at the big picture. Attachments are nothing but a liability, and I refuse to be controlled ever again!"

He disappeared into building with nothing but a loud slam of the door to indicate where he might be.

"Way to put your foot in your mouth again, Bulma." She sighed. Might as well go to bed for the night. Nothing good happens after 3 AM anyway. So, she carefully climbed back up to the balcony and went straight to bed. Falling asleep, her mind was full of thoughts and sympathy for the man she once thought of as the devil.

* * *

 _Additional Notes:_ Ok so her night and shining armor wasn't Vegeta! Sorry to disappoint, but honestly if we're going by canon would you expect it? The guy's a prideful bastard! In the best way (we still love him). I did include a substantial amount of time spent between the two, so hopefully, I made it up to you guys. So what did you think? Love it? Hate it? Wanna kill me for taking so long? As always let me know! I'm going to try to finish up and post the next chapter as soon as I can.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer** : It's want all of the Dragon Balls!

 **RECAP:** Bulma and Yamcha break up. Bulma goes out with friends and gets wasted. Some creep starts bothering her. Person defends her. Bulma turns and person isn't Vegeta :( but Mark a coworker. Mark gets rid of creep and Bulma and Mark chill for a bit. Bulma goes home and crawls on roof. Vegeta is already on roof and scares Bulma. They chat. Vegeta eats Bulma's fries. Bulma pushes a little too hard. They both go to bed.

Phewww that should take care of the last 3 chapters in a nutshell. It's been a while so I thought I owed you guys a recap to jog your memory a bit.

* * *

The air was thick with ash and the smell of charred flesh. It burned his throat, but he was used to it. He had grown desensitized to this years ago. Bodies lay littered on both sides, their blood painting a red carpet for his majesty. He deserved the honor. He was a Prince after all. Prince of darkness. Prince of destruction. He was the element of change: all beauty was marred in his presence. All innocence tainted. Fortified palaces crumbled at his feet; ruins stained with the blood of its protectors.

He gracefully strode to the inner castle. There was only one left, the king of this pitiful planet.

"Well, well, well old man. Looks like your exalted army held less challenge than a pod of common house plants."

The King turned in shock at the sight of a young flame haired boy. "You did this? But you're nothing more than a child. How could you take out my elite? How could you kill them? All of them, the people outside were innocents."

"I don't have time for your pathetic questions, old man. Now tell me where is the Katchin?" He pulled the taller man down to his own face.

"It's not here in the Kingdom."

The boy barked out a sinister laugh. "You tell me that you have the highest known amount of the strongest metal in the universe, yet you did not use it to fortify your walls."

"No! The gift from the heavens, we hid away to honor our Kai". The lavender skinned king choked out.

The boy threw him across the room. "You are nothing but a fool." He chuckled darkly ."Had you used the Katchin around your kingdom, your cities rather than as a glorified paper weight, we may not have entered so easily. Their bloodshed is on your idiocy. "

"Whaat! If you thought it was in the kingdom, then why attack all those villages? "

"Another stupid question!" The boy smirked and began to approach now crippled king. "For sport."

The king's blood iced, his jaw agape, he could believe such treacherous words uttered from a boy of eleven. "You're not a child, you're a monster! A despicable demon feeding off the misery you cause around you. A pitiful creature feeding off the scraps of existence. Go to hell! I won't tell you a single thing. "

CRUNCH…CRACK…

"Haha I guess I'll see you there then". With that an energy blast disintegrated the remainder of the fallen king.

BEEP BEEP… "VEGETA… VEGETAAAA… can you hear me?"

"Shut up Napa, I can hear you just fine! Stop yelling into your scouter. Did you find the Katchin yet?"

BEEP BEEP … "Napa what did Vegeta say? Did you tell him? What should we do?"

"Oh hey there Raditz, I'm talking to him right now. Hey do you have any food on you? I'm starving!"

A vein started to pop out of Vegeta head. "You IDIOTS shut the hell up! NAPA I ASKED YOU A QUESTION!"

"Oh yeah what was the question again?"

Raditz took a deep breath. He knew Vegeta had a short fuse, and he was close to blowing up on them. "I'll take it from here Napa. We found the Katchin in a village based off the mountains. It was in one of the caves… but we ran into…".

"Did you transfer it into the transference pod? You ran into trouble? Did that idiot Napa break the pod, because if he did, I SWEAR."

"No, Prince Vegeta that wasn't a problem. We were able to move all of the metal into the pod. It's something else…"

"Will you spit it out already Raditz, I don't have the time or patience."

"Prince Vegeta … when we were looking for the metal, we came across two unconscious girls at the edge of the cave … They look pretty worse for wear. "

"Annnd? Is there a point to this story? We're expected to eliminate all life on this planet, or have you forgotten? What do I care about a pair of injured girls? "

"Vegeta … they have Saiyan tails."

"Send me your coordinates."

* * *

Author's Note: Hello everyone! Its been a long time! I want to thank all of people that have kept up with this despite the very, very long break, and all the new followers too! I want to especially thank those that review have no idea how much your guys' comments mean and how much affect they have on keeping me motivated to continue to write. So by all means write comments, and pester me for new chapter through messaging lolol. I know this chapter is pretty short, but I just really wanted to get it out while I still had enough time to do so. I'm still planning on finishing this story. I'll update if my plans change in the future. But once again thank you for your patience and support in this fic!

Side Note: Hope everyone is staying safe and sane in quarantine! Take care of yourselves! Until next time.


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